you mean the crow?? there's two crows (or black birds?) in the frame, along with a woman in the distance at the end of the waterstream. which one are you referring to?
i should have posted the larger version? the photo is over 3 years old, i should probably process it with my new ways. but thanks!

Ok, now that you say it, it's a crow that I see to the right. I recognized the woman as a human element. Yeah, I bet it's really effective in a large size.

I guess, if I had to nitpick, then head in a clean spot. The only reason I mention that rule (or saying?) is because the edge of the mirror blends into the color of his hair. You should've also closed curtains, because the light reflection in that mirror is pretty harsh. Also, the fan on the right side of the photo distracts me.

What are you trying to show us here? There's a wheel plunked down pretty much in the middle of the picture that looks out of context to me. Off to the right I see the makings of maybe an interesting garage or work area, but then I'm drawn back to the wheel and tire and think to myself, "Is there something special about this wheel and tire?" It seems posed and artificially placed in the room where you wouldn't normally expect it.

Personally I'd like to see the image reversed and with the head where the butt is, I'm drawn to looking at the upper third. Along with that the OOF left and right sides the lighter elements distract a bit from the image. Perhaps a touch of grad. neutral density filtering would take that away. Dropping the brightness a touch would take the "flash" look away, it's a tiny bit bright for me. You could just change the temperature to a warmer light to give it a late afternoon shoot look.
You have good DOF on the body and on the stem of the lavender but the background is nicely OOF

rock tripod for 4 seconds, trying out a rented EF-s 17-55. Cropped just a few %, not saying this is stunning but wondering what more in PP I could do for improvement.

to me the clarity and colors are awesome. the exposure on the highlights is just about perfect, but you're losing a little detail down low. maybe bump up fill a bit? that dead tree sticks out like a sore thumb, i personally wouldn't have cropped it at all so that it remained whole. aside from those minor details, great image.